Keith Country Day girls volleyball wins second-straight state title

Saturday

Nov 16, 2013 at 11:59 AM

Brenda YoungRockford Register Star

NORMAL — Adeja Lambert and her Keith girls volleyball teammates were determined not to be "outshined."

The Cougars produced a historic win, bringing home the school's second straight Class 1A state title. In a match featuring high energy and momentum shifts, the defending champs defeated Stewardson-Strasburg 25-18, 25-17 in the championship match before a packed crowd at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.

Lambert, a senior outside hitter, totaled 11 kills, six digs and two aces.

"We talked about it before in the locker room that if we worked together, that nothing could outshine us," said Lambert, a Michigan commit. "We worked hard and overall, we did great as a team."

Iman McGary had five of her six kills in the first game as Keith took command early and led by as many as seven at 23-16.

Marisa Morgan's kill closed the game for the Cougars' win.

The Comets (28-13), making their first state appearance since 1995, made things interesting in the second game. Keith (39-3) came out strong offensively, taking a 10-5 lead. The Comets then made a 6-0 run to take their first lead at 11-10. The Cougars took a timeout and paced by Lambert and key blocking from Danielle Coleman (four kills, three digs, two block attacks), Marisa Morgan (20 assists, nine digs, two block attacks) and Morgan Luther (two kills, two block attacks), they got back on track. The Comets took a timeout with Keith leading 17-13, but wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way.

"It was a glimpse of hope," said Comets outside hitter Kendall Knop, who had a team-high eight kills. "We had been down the whole first set, so it was a glimpse of hope. We let it slip out of our hands and that was really tough and heartbreaking because we were so strong. It's not like we fell apart, they are just a really good team."

Ali Nicolosi, one of six seniors, said it was a huge accomplishment for the team to repeat. The Cougars placed second in the state in 2007.

"Coming here the first year, it was a lot of nerves and pressure put on us — just wanting us to win," she said. We proved that we could do it last year and coming back this year, it really shows that hard work really pays off and just because we are a 1A school, we can accomplish great things."

Alex Nunez had five assists and eight digs, while Nicolosi finished with four kills and one dig for Keith.